We nudged the most budget-conscious for tips on how they make Pesach while spending a minimum.
Because of rising costs on just about everything – food to gas and everything in between, this year, perhaps more than other years, is tight for a lot of people.
When we called up some budget-minded BCP friends for some advice, they actually had a hard time coming up with tips. That’s because budgeting comes naturally to them. They told us they’ve been preparing for Pesach for months (getting appliances and dishes they were missing slowly, budgeting for it, buying wines and grape juice on sale…)
- Clothing. Pesach doesn’t have to be the yom tov everyone gets new socks, hair accessories, or clothing. You can push that all of until Shavuos.
- Many non-food items don’t need Kosher for Passover certification. You can view the OU list here. You can buy these items at discounted prices or use closed boxes from your pantry.
- Many food items such as eggs, extra virgin olive oil, sugar (white granulated), salt (non- idolized only) and water (unflavored) don’t need Kosher for Passover certification. You can download the full OU list here.
- Stick to cooking basics: the tried-and-true recipes you know work. It can get expensive to test out a recipe with almond flour and see it flop.
- Cook like those who cook with non-processed ingredients. BBQ sauce, imitation soy sauce, Pesach specialty items… all those ingredients do add up. See our list of recipes that really just use the basics here.
- Make a menu based on what you see on sale. Keep in mind Pesach is only one week! You don’t have to run around looking for sales (you can if you have the time!), however big ticket items such as grape juice may be worth shopping on sale.
- Family reunions and getting together with one family friend are great Chol Hamoed activities. Playing ball in a park is so much more fun when you do it with someone else. Victoria wrote a great post back in 2017 on how to pull off a great family day that doesn’t have to cost a thing.
- Post Pesach, get your basics and slowly get things as they are on a sale. There’s no need to restock everything overnight.
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Don’t serve dips – dips equals Matza!
Great tips! Regarding clothing, in the Yiddish stores in the tri state area, most stores run out of sizes pretty fast…so you gotta buy them right away if you want stuff for your kids. Of course then you can go into a discussion about standards, matching and pricing blah blah blah…
I like the idea of making a menu based on what’s on sale but also make a shopping list based on your menu. If you don’t have a clear idea of what you plan on making, you’ll end up overbuying both in quantity and unnecessary ingredients.
Most importantly, FILL OUT THE BCP LIST so you know what you have saved from previous years! And quantities used!
(Or am I the only one who bought a 4th vanilla sugar in 2019?)
as a Mesila coach, i will say the best tip – and one that has been missed here, because most people tend to miss this – is that at the end of Yom Tov, write down how much you spent this year on Pesach. Then work this amount into your budget so you have the funds available to spend when you need them. Pesach comes every year, yet Yom Tov expenses are often the type of thing people just think “happens” rather than having a plan for.
hatzlacha raba!